June 17, 2010
Start: El Paso, Tx
Finish: Van Horn, Tx
Distance: 117 miles
Ascent: 1150 ft
We left El Paso today around 5:30am and took a few small roads out of town close to the 10, as we got out of town we got on the 20 which took us through some cool little farms and ranches. We got about 50 miles in before we took a break and ate at Angies Restaurant off the 10 in Fort Hancock. As we were eating we met a awesome group of people from San Francisco A dad, son and son's girlfriend that were moving to Tampa, Fl. They were very nice people and they wished us luck on our journey as we gave them a business card. On our way to the next stop we hit our 1000 mile mark for the trip so we stopped and took a little video that you can find on our youtube page HERE. So we got on our way to our next stop of Sierra Blanca, when we got there it ended up being a pretty run down town with only one motel and a gas station, we really wanted more than that, so after talking about it we decided to make a trek 30 miles east to the next town of Van Horn, Tx. On our way we were about 15 miles away at the top of a mountain about to drop down the backside into the town, when a random big gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew me about 30 feet off the road onto the dirt shoulder. As I look back and hear my mom say brian, Brian, BRIAN!!! I see the wind taking her across the 10 into the median, luckily no semi trucks or cars were coming for once. But she did get pushed about 10 feet into the dirt median and clipped out just in time before the next gust of wind, and that was it, no more wind. About 4 miles from the town we crossed into central time zone so we are now 2 hours ahead of home(Huntington Beach, Ca) This town of Van Horn has many more hotels and restaurants, actually a nice little town, we had dinner at Chuy's which got famous from John Maddens appearances. Which he says is his favorite mexican restaurant, it ended up being quite bust on a random Thursday night but food was definitely amazing. It is now around 9:30pm and still light outside, and it is supposed to get like around 6:30am.
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Day 16
June 18, 2010
Start: Van Horn, Tx
Finish: Alpine, Tx
Distance: 48 miles, drove 50 miles due to storm.
Ascent: 825 ft
We got off to a pretty late start today, since we crossed into another time zone yesterday the time has been messing with us. We are now 2 hours ahead so when we try to wake up at 4:00am its really 6:00am, so we got out of Van Horn around 8:15, we weren't moving to fast because of poor road conditions. But got to the next town 20 miles away and got some snacks, on our way to the next town I saved a little horny toads life that was headed onto the i10, and took some pics with him! Then headed to the next town of Kent before heading up the mountain. we got about 10 miles into the mountain when it started pouring rain, as we were getting our rain gear out to attempt to go try and get through the storm its starting pouring horribly bad. a maintenance truck drove by and turned around and gave us a ride to the next good town of Alpine about 50 miles away. So for the day we got about 48 miles of riding in, but tomorrow we have a pretty solid day of 90 miles down to the town of Sanderson, Tx.
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Day 17
June 19, 2010
Start: Alpine, Tx
Finish: Sanderson, Tx
Distance: 82 miles
Ascent: 350 ft
Today we started at around 7:15, got off to a decent start getting to Marathon from Alpine which was about 28 miles in a few hours. Once there we had a nice little breakfast at a place called Johnny B’s. On our way put with ran into a few people and ended up talking for an hour, met a couple from Del Rio which is where we’re headed tomorrow. Also a nice girl that has traveled around a lot and jumps from hostile to hostile for the past few years. We also were petting a few locals’ dogs that were hanging around. About 10 miles out of town we ran into a guy on a road bike also doing some touring. He is doing our same ride but backwards, coming from Florida and going to San Diego. We talked for another hour and exchanged tips and gear thoughts about routes we’ve both done. After we parted ways we still had about 40 miles of nothing till we got to Sanderson, Tx. It was a very hard day, nothing around except hills and desert, it was also about 95 degrees and starting to feel some humidity. We took a break around 23 miles from our hotel and ate our peaches and poured in the rest of our water. We both ran out of water about 15 miles away from our hotel, this wasn't good, the wind had been against us all day, the road was very bumpy and we weren't moving very fast. We were both just done, we went another 5 miles or so until we got desperate and flagged down a car, they gave us a few small juice boxes, that really might have been the bet liquid i have ever drank. We just kept on trekking trying to get there as we could, we would see a hill coming up crest it to believe there was a downhill and then it would be flat. About 3 miles outta town i saw a well on the side of the road in someones property, I just told mom to hold the bike and hoped over the fence and filled up both our bottles. We guzzled it down in about 10 seconds and helped our thirst, I then filled them both up one more time and we made it the last 3 miles into town, sunburn, dehydrated, and exhausted. Considering the mileage of the day wasn't far, but all the elements took a toll on us, and it was definitely one of our harder days so far!
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Day 18
June 20, 2010
Start: Sanderson, Tx
Finish: Del Rio, Tx
Distance: 13.5
Ascent: 130
Today we got up and were not in the mood from having the experience the day before, the next town was 120 miles away, with nothing in between. We got all our stuff together and headed down the road to the truck stop to try and get a ride as far as possible, we both felt it was smart to not try a 100 mile stretch of no services. We both really don't want to get rides but we don't want to put our lies on the line in the middle of the heat and get hurt. We found a trucker after about a half an hour of asking around. A very nice man from Illinois that let us hope in his truck for a lift down to Lake Amistad, about 12 miles outside of town. He was very surprised we made the stretch of 55 miles the day before and thought our decision of getting a ride was smart, since he had picked up a few bikers years before in our same situation. His name was Larry and we talked about everything from his life of trucking to his dogs and sons sports at home, it is nice to talk to people with totally different backgrounds from ours but still can find peace in life doing what they do. I really can't imagine ever living farther than 2 miles from the ocean but yet these people find there happiness in different ways and experiences. We got off at Lake Amistad and rode down to the water and took a dip and hung out for a bit, then made the hour or so ride into town.
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Day 19
June 21, 2010
Start: Del Rio, Tx
Finish: Uvalde, Tx
Distance: 67 miles
Ascent: 560 ft
Everyday has its on tough parts, weather its the climbing, the flats, or the weather. Today wasn't very many miles but the humidity started, so it was a bit hard getting used to it. We only had one stop at about mile 30 where we got some shakes, that were very good. Also refilled our drinks with some ice and got off our seats a bit. after that we had about 40 miles to our destination of Uvalde. The whole day had rolling hills where you would climb for about two to three hundred yards and think there would be a nice downhill, but its barely nothing. Very deceiving and messing with your mind, also the roads in Texas have been very bumpy and jittery. Which just makes your arms go numb after a few miles, we took a break about half way to have some of our snacks we carry, which are usually peaches and smuckers. We also hit our halfway point today, where we stopped and we were exactly 1,104.2 miles from HB and Jacksonville (straight shot that is). But we are now officially more than halfway to Florida! But after all that it was a 15 mile ride to the town, where we got some ice cold sonic slushies when we arrived!
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Day 20
June 22, 2010
Start: Uvalde, Tx
Finish: San Antonio, Tx
Distance: 78 miles
Ascent: 925 ft
Today was actually a very good day for us, the humidity has definitely set in and were feeling it, being sweaty all day! We had many stops on our way to San Antonio, so it was very good to stop every 20 miles or so to get some ice and fresh water. Our first stop was Sabinal where we cooled down and got some ice in a shell and talked to a few very nice people. We got on our way to the next town of Hondo, where we stopped for some lunch at our new favorite place, Sonic! Good food and slushies, got all the sweat off us and talked to some family on the phone. We left there around 12:30pm or so to our final destination of San Antonio. The whole day went well, no bike problems, we were on the 90 highway the whole day which made it easy. The only thing was I had an itch attack about 10 miles out of Uvalde this morning, for some reason I could not stop feeling itchy for about 30 minutes. I was basically freaking out itching all over and almost swerving into the highway, while riding. I would stop and throw my bike down and just start scratching for minutes, we tried to put some lotion on, but it didn't work out. So we wiped it off with water, and finally got some anti itch lotion in Sabinal. It helped out a lot, but for a solid hour I was itching all over and couldn't figure out what it was from. As we got to our friends mothers house in San Antonio, we got a quick shower and then started on dinner. The dinner was home cooked chicken, rice, and vegetables. It was great to actually sit down in a house and eat while talking, not in a restaurant.
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Day 21
June 23, 2010
Start: San Antonio, Tx
Finish: Luling, Tx
Distance: 65 miles
Ascent: 530 ft
This morning we started our day at about 6:15sm and got a solid 15 miles or so through the center of San Antonio, then we stopped at a Starbucks. Mind it was my mom's first Starbucks in about 10 days, so we got our drinks and checked out the route for today, since we had no internet the night before. We got out of there around 8:00 and started heading for highway 90 about 8 miles or so outta town my mom ran over a piece of rubber from a car tire. It got caught on her chain and went through her rear derailer as she tried shifting gears it blew the derailer apart and it broke off and got caught in her spokes(picture included). So as we were on the side of the road, I took a look at it and saw it was unfixable, we needed to get to a bike shop. As i was finding one on my phone a nice man pulled over and asked if we needed help. His name was nick and also a fellow cyclist, we were headed the opposite way of him but he pointed us towards a bike shop. We got a cab about 12 miles north east to a bike shop called Action bikes located in Universal City, Tx. They had the part in stock and the bike was done in about 30 minutes, thanks to a great mechanic there named Josh, definitely recommend this place to anyone in the area! We were on our way again, we got another 20 miles or so and had lunch at Whataburger, which they have all over Texas, actually not a bad place(ordered a bbq chicken burger). From there we had 24 miles to our hotel, we hoped back on the 90 which has been a great way to get around getting on the 10 and it stays very close to it. On our way to Luling, we stopped and saw the Guadalupe and San Marcos Rivers. We arrived in the nice little town of Luling at 5:00pm, tomorrow we are headed to Sealy, Tx and then The Woodlands which is right outside of Houston!
Check out Week 4!
